CINCINNATI, June 12, 2008 (PRIME NEWSWIRE) -- Federal Home Loan Bank of Cincinnati President David H. Hehman announced that the Board of Directors approved six grants totaling $767,000 in funds under the American Dream Homeownership Challenge, to help bring homeownership to minorities and people with special needs.
"The American Dream program helps people build for their futures by providing homeownership opportunities," Mr. Hehman said.
The FHLBank has a congressional mandate to devote 10 percent of its annual profits to the Affordable Housing Program, which has awarded $280 million for the creation of more than 43,000 units of housing. The American Dream Homeownership Challenge is a voluntary program, outside of the FHLBank's affordable housing obligation. It was created in 2003, as part of the FHLBank's commitment to President Bush's Blueprint for the American Dream, aimed at increasing minority homeownership nationwide. Since its inception, the American Dream program has awarded $8.3 million to help 1,073 households buy their first homes.
This year, $2.5 million in American Dream grants will be awarded in three rounds. In addition, in July the FHLBank will award $2.5 million in grants for foreclosure mitigation under a similar program, called Preserving the American Dream.
Awards announced by Mr. Hehman will help 33 households buy their first homes:
* To First Federal Savings & Loan Association, Hazard, Ky., $200,000, partnering with the Housing Development Alliance Inc., Hazard, to assist four physically disabled families living on SSI disability income become homebuyers in Perry County, Ky. * To First State Financial, Lexington, Ky., $100,000, partnering with REACH Inc., Lexington, to provide first-time homeownership opportunities to nine minority households in Fayette County, Ky. * To Home Federal Savings & Loan Association, Ashland, Ky., $80,000 partnering with Appalachian Foothills Housing Agency Inc., Wurtland, Ky., to provide first-time homeownership opportunities to four homebuyers with special needs in Greenup County, Ky. * To KeyBank, N.A., Cleveland, $100,000, partnering with Living Arrangements for the Developmentally Disabled Inc., Cincinnati, to provide first-time homeownership opportunities to two homebuyers with special needs in Hamilton County, Ohio. * To Carroll Bank and Trust, Huntingdon, Tenn., $187,000, partnering with the Jackson Center for Independent Living, Jackson, Tenn., to provide first-time homeownership opportunities to four homebuyers with disabilities in West Tennessee. * To Bank of Tennessee, Kingsport, Tenn. $100,000, to provide first-time homeownership opportunities to 10 minority families in five East Tennessee counties.
The Federal Home Loan Bank of Cincinnati is a $94 billion, triple-A rated regional wholesale bank providing financial services for residential housing and economic development to 726 member financial institutions located in the Fifth FHLBank District of Kentucky, Ohio and Tennessee. The FHLBank System, including 12 district FHLBanks, was chartered in 1932 by the U.S. Congress to promote housing finance but is wholly owned by its member institution stockholders and does not use taxpayer dollars.